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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27929986">Sunrise</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/csi_sanders1129/pseuds/csi_sanders1129'>csi_sanders1129</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Night at the Museum (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Admissions, Comfortember 2020, Fear, Hope, Hugs, Kisses, M/M, Missing Scene, Post-Night at the Museum 3: Secret of the Tomb, afraid to sleep, goodbyes?, sunrise</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:20:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>771</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27929986</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/csi_sanders1129/pseuds/csi_sanders1129</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Jed and Octavius have a moment alone before the sunrise comes when they return to the museum from their adventure in London.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jedediah/Octavius (Night at the Museum)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>123</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Comfortember 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sunrise</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for Comfortember 2020, Prompt: Afraid to Sleep. Set at the end of NATM3, but before the post-credit scene. Comments and kudos would be awesome. Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It's the right thing to do, agreeing to let the tablet stay with Ahkmenrah and his family in London. It belonged to him and the gift it had given all of them for decades now was more than any of them ever expected to get.</p><p>But that doesn't make it easier.</p><p>Knowing that this is the last time the magic of the tablet will bring them to life, knowing that this is the last time they'll ever see each other is… terrifying.</p><p>After Gigantor leaves them, just a few minutes before their last sunrise, they do not return to their own exhibits. They should – they're running out of time to get back to the places they belong.</p><p>"My friend," Octavius starts, the first to break the eerie silence that's settled over the museum. They're the only ones in the diorama room awake, the rest of the miniatures are frozen, statue still in their places. He catches Jed's hand in his own and holds tight. "There have been many goodbyes over the course of our friendship," he says, and Jed thinks of the car chase that brought them together so long ago, his capture by Kahmunrah at the Smithsonian, and just earlier tonight when first Pompeii and then the tablet's deterioration had nearly ended them in London. "Perhaps this one won't truly be the end, either."</p><p>Jed hopes not. Hope is all he has. The hope that one day he'll wake up and find Octavius again. He pulls the Roman into a hug. He's going to miss this, miss him.</p><p>He thinks about hiding them away. They could freeze wrapped up in each other's arms. Find some tiny nook somewhere in the museum where no would ever find them. If by some miracle they were found, no one ever would be able to pry them apart.</p><p>He thinks about the sunrise. Going outside and seeing one actual sunrise with Octavius by his side. It would be the last thing they'd ever do, but they'd be together.</p><p>He thinks of some day, far off in the future, when Ahkmenrah and the tablet might come back to them. Of waking up one day, with no knowledge of just how much time had passed them by and Octavius meeting him at the divide between their exhibits, where the battle lines used to be.</p><p>When he finally pulls away from the embrace, it's only because he has an idea.</p><p>"Take this," Jed offers, undoing the knot on his bandana. He's never taken it off before. He ties it to Octavius's arm where, when they're plastic again, it won't look too out of place, hidden by the red of his own outfit.</p><p>"I will guard it with my life," Octavius swears, a bit unnecessarily since there aren't many threats to their lives, even fewer when they won't have lives to lose. Still, to counter this move, to offer Jed the same thing he's been offered, Octavius removes one of his vambraces. "I offer you this," he says. Jed rolls up a sleeve and lets the other man put the forearm guard into place, rolls his sleeve back down to hide it. No one will know but the two of them.</p><p>It is not the only thing Octavius offers. He pulls Jed in close, back into another long-lasting embrace, presses their foreheads together for a long moment before he presses their lips together, too. A kiss. One single kiss. A first kiss, one that should not be the last. "I offer you my heart, as well, my friend. I should have done so a long time ago."</p><p>Jed feels his own heart lurch painfully in his chest. They wasted so much time. There's nothing they can do about that now – and no one to blame, after all Jed didn't say anything either. "I'm mighty fond of you, too, partner," he counters, pulling the other man into another kiss.</p><p>But sunrise in inching ever closer, they can both feel it. "I don't want to go," Octavius laments.</p><p>"I know," Jed says, "I know." He makes a decision then. That, when the museum opens, one lone mini-figure will be out of its place. One singular cowboy will be standing beside a General in the Roman diorama. Jed doesn't care – he doesn't want Octavius to be alone when they go to sleep this last time any more than he wants to be alone himself. They stand together, just barely not touching, as their last dawn begins to break. "I love you," he says, and he hears Octavius say the words back just as the light comes and takes them with it.</p>
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